Do Engineering to Learn Not to Get a Job

It can be stated that a majority of budding engineers choose the engineering field each year because they think it is a lucrative, respectable profession. However, the question to be asked is, “is a budding engineer really passionate and zealous about engineering?” “Does science stimulate him or her to create new inventions?” “Can IITians become effective leaders and entrepreneurs, who create their own startup companies from scratch?” To answer these questions, we must first have a look at the reasons for students choosing an engineering career over others, which might not be so lucrative. Therefore, let’s get started.

• Lack of Appropriate Career Counseling: If you don’t fit the bill for medicine, then it’s engineering. Students do not even have the knowledge about hundreds of different careers with regard to Commerce and Arts & Humanities. As shown in the movie 3 Idiots, you may be exceptional at wildlife photography; yet you are stuck in an engineering college.

• False Sense of Job Security: It may be true to some extent that those passing out from engineering colleges will get a suitable job. This may not be true for every engineering student. The question to be asked is “is getting a job the sole reason for choosing the profession of an engineer?” You must take up engineering if you have a tremendous inclination and love for Mathematics and Science and not for jobs or money.

• Peer and Parental Pressure: Most parents force their children to opt for an engineering career. Some students take up engineering just to fulfill his or her parental wishes. Moreover, you must have read some article in the newspaper about an IITian being offered an astronomical sum as salary from world-renowned organizations such as Google or Facebook. Hence, you become part of the rat race.

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  Neighbor’s Children: If your neighbor’s son or daughter earns close to lakh a month as a professional engineer, surely this is the right path for my son or daughter as well. This is the traditional, narrow-minded thinking of a parent. In today’s booming e-commerce world, how many parents have encouraged their children to become entrepreneurs, web designers, teachers, historians, clinical psychologists, language experts, or seek lucrative jobs in the Internet marketing domain. We can bet that not many have thought of these.

• Lack of confidence to follow one’s passion: When it comes to lack of confidence for chasing your dreams, you, as a student, are not to be blamed solely. Your school teachers are equally to blame for not igniting that spark that can create a huge conflagration.

• Trend followers: Let’s face it. Only a small percentage of Indians are trendsetters, while the rest blindly follow them.  This is why not many Indian companies have gone global. Dhirubhai Ambani is a shining example of a trendsetter.

• No courage for taking risks: Most Indians prefer a life of comfort and ease, with minimal risks. Hence, we are not adept at experimenting with new things.

Sacrifice of talents for the sake of money

Sometimes, software engineering is an extremely high-paying segment in the engineering domain. Therefore, all engineering graduates jump the bandwagon, including those trained in civil or mechanical engineering. Isn’t this absurd? In this world of instant gratification, everyone wants a share of the pie without putting in the effort. This accounts for the dismal number of researchers that India produces each year. People are ready to sacrifice everything just for money. They flock from one job to another for an increase in just a couple of thousands. They sacrifice their health by choosing a BPO that demands rotational shifts. It should be remembered at this stage that if you achieve success in the rat race, you are still a “rat.”

In the 1990s, India went through gloabalization and liberalization, which were accompanied with the phenomenon of brain-drain. Prestigious overseas companies employed the services of intelligent, hard working, and highly-competent engineers. Attracted by the fat paycheck and a comfortable lifestyle abroad, engineering graduates flocked abroad.

This, in turn, created the mindset that students with a high IQ should become doctors or engineers. However, that economic era was over several years ago.

In modern times, with countries still to come to terms with the global economic slowdown due to recession, we can witness of reverse brain drain where the workers are returning to their own countries because of being laid off from their jobs. Many fresh engineering graduates are opting for jobs at international BPOs or call centers as Technical Support Associates because of the paucity of engineering jobs.

Therefore, the bottom line is that if you merely want a job, why have a crack at JEE and spend 4 valuable years at renowned IITs. Head to the nearest BPO and you will get your high-paying job. Alternatively, as an engineering graduate, you will get a job upon course completion. The legitimate question is “Are you doing justice to Science, Mathematics, and your eminent faculty members?” The answer would be a resounding “no” if you have only money on your mind.

Therefore, do engineering to learn not a get a job. All the best!